Staying at Starfleet Academy During Winter Break - How Colleges Support Students Who Don't Go Home.

 

Michael Pillar once said that when working on The Next Generation, he had to write “Family” because he couldn’t have the episode following Best of Both Worlds be back to business as usual because Picard needed time to heal after going through something so traumatic. After the events aboard the Miyazaki, it’s time for a break. Like Picard, the Starfleet Academy folks need time to heal, and that coincides with the end of the Fall semester and the start of Spring. The Academy will close for a few days for the holidays, and everyone will go home to their families.

At the start of this episode, I identified with Caleb. In any college, there are any number of students who cannot go home for a break for one reason or another. Caleb is unable to go home because he does not have a home to go to. There are many reasons, besides housing insecurity, that students stay on campus during breaks, including working on or near campus, the expense of travel, or choosing to stay in a place free from abuse or dysfunctional family dynamics. When we were in college, my wife and I stayed on campus for most breaks, and there were usually 20-30 other students who would stay as well, for one or more of these reasons.

But as I watched on, something started to bother me in the depiction of the Academy in break. It’s really only Caleb and Reno staying? Are there no other cadets who cannot travel home for a break? What about the staff? Why is it only Reno? Where are the RAs on duty? In my experience during winter break, the residence hall was sparsely populated, but it was not empty. There were RAs and an RD present, security and maintenance people, and the person who checked people in and out at the front desk. It wasn’t as unstructured as it seems to be in Starfleet Academy, where Caleb is basically left to his own devices and sets up a tanning bed in the atrium.

So, in preparing to write this entry, I consulted with two of my colleagues who have worked in Residence Life, Andy Adler and Amy Lorenz, to get a sense of what typically happens in housing at a college during winter break. My entire career as a Student Affairs Professional has been on the academic side of things, so both of them provided perspective from their years working in Residence Life.

Colleges closing for break will notify students ahead of time regarding the process for staying over a break, and what services will and won’t be available. Some colleges will require students to apply for approval to stay, while others will simply require a notification the student plans to stay. A college will have a number of RAs stay on campus, perhaps with an expanded area to cover. Andy Adler worked as a Resident Director, and he said that “at every institution I've worked at, RAs received incentives to stay. Though the monetary amount was always different, it was always additional compensation. Usually this was done on a first come first serve basis because we didn't need everyone to stay, just enough for operations. Then, the main function was just sitting in the duty station, handling lockouts, mail (if applicable), and doing rounds in the evening.”

Amy Lorenz, Director of Residence Life at the University of North Florida, told me that in addition to RAs, there are always professional staff and senior staff within housing on call at all times during the break. In our conversation, she told me that at UNF, only the first-year residence halls fully close down during winter break, while buildings for upperclassmen and students who live in mixed-class housing remain open. She said that during winter breaks, around 400-500 people can be around on campus between students and staff, though around Christmas Day and New Years Day, it tends to be a smaller number. There are some facilities which are kept open and staffed, but academic buildings tend to be kept locked up. Electronic logs and security cameras prevent students from accessing closed areas, so it would be very difficult for a student to, for example, break into the science lab and free a warp slug.

And, if a student did do such a thing, there would be a record and the student would be easily caught.

Of course, there are situations that will arise that staff need to be able to adapt to. Amy also said that since certain campus resources are not available, this can lead to certain challenges for students, and for the Residence Life staff working to support them. For example, we discussed that with services like the Counseling Center closed for the break, mental health issues that students were handling well during the regular semester came to a head over break. This necessitated relying on support from resources off campus.

At Starfleet Academy, Genesis is dealing with her anxiety regarding her career path and the fear and uncertainty she has. This comes to a head at a time where there is limited support for her on campus. The only person she really has to turn to is Caleb, and he is dealing with his own mental health challenges regarding his past trauma and how it is affecting his relationship with Tarima. It’s completely understandable that Genesis’ feelings of fear and insecurity would come out now, during a break, when there is nothing but time to think about them. And it’s completely understandable that she might make choices based off of that fear that show a lack of judgement. It’s also understandable that she would struggle with these feelings during a time where she has fewer supports in place.

But, in a real college, Genesis would have a more difficult time pulling off her plan to break into the bridge and edit her application. Colleges would consider this an act of Academic Dishonesty, and there typically would be a process that she would go through, including some sort of a hearing to determine any sanctions. She also would not necessarily have the ability to get into a restricted or closed area, since real colleges maintain more staff during breaks than one Temporal Mechanics Professor. In fact, according to Amy Lorenz, faculty are usually the people you generally don’t see on campus during winter break, since they’re not teaching.

While I appreciate what this episode was trying to do, showing that during the quiet times, the issues students have been avoiding can suddenly come to a head, most real colleges have a more well considered shutdown plan than Starfleet Academy is depicted as having. Showing students that you care about them, that their college can be a home and a refuge for them when their lives outside of school can be chaotic, takes work and thought. There are plenty of amazing Student Affairs professionals, many of whom work in Residence Life, who do that work every day. I hope that, as the series continues, Starfleet Academy will show that side of Higher Ed as well.

 

 

Thank you to Andy Adler, Senior Assistant Director of Advising at Hudson County Community College, and Amy Lorenz, Director of Residence Life at the University of North Florida, for their input as I was writing this.

 

Challenge & Support in the Final Frontier: How the Academy &the War College Help Students Develop

Chancellor Kelrec hasn’t really impressed, up to this point in Starfleet Academy. He’s been played mainly for laughs in the first 5 episodes, but underneath the jokes about a deflating blobfish and his being weirdly obsessed with making tea, he’s been shown as a rigid thinker. He’s not someone who expects his cadets to be creative or insightful, but rather he expects them to follow the rules and procedure. I’ve heard some commentary YouTubers compare him to Arnold J. Rimmer from Red Dwarf, an ineffective and incompetent leader who is too obsessed with regulations and wears a blue jacket for much of the series.

Kelrec is clearly there to be a foil for Nahla Ake, who is much more about free expression and encouraging individual thought, which is why I was glad to see that in Episode 6 of Starfleet Academy, “Come, Let’s Away,” Chancellor Kelrec isn’t portrayed as a caricature or a buffoon, but rather as something Rimmer is never seen as: a competent officer. Kelrec introduces the exercise with authority, and when the crisis begins, he has confidence that his cadets will be able to handle themselves. Throughout the episode, even knowing he’s had interpersonal problems with Nahla, he puts those feelings aside and works with her in a way that shows a growing respect for her.

Admiral Vance is in the position of trying to find balance between the two. When introduced in Discovery, Vance was a man in crisis mode, focusing on keeping things together through rules and regulations, but throughout Discovery he learns to loosen up. This is why, I believe, Vance didn’t close the War College when reopening Starfleet Academy, because he knows that Kelrec’s ways of thinking got them through the Burn, but Ake’s ways of thinking will help them lift their eyes back to the horizon.

One of the earliest College Student Development Theories is Nevitt Sanford’s 1966 theory, a major component of which is the concept of development through challenge and support. Sanford believed that if an environment is too challenging, a person won’t develop. They’ll retreat and shut down, so you need to have support to make sure things aren’t too hard. But, if you provide too much support, you take away too much of the challenge, and then the person does not develop and grow. Colleges, then, should strive to find a good balance, encouraging challenges and providing just enough supports to encourage growth, without making things too easy. In the triad formed between Nahla Ake, Kelrec, and Vance, Nahla is the embodiment of the supporting educator, Kelrec is the embodiment of the challenging educator, and Vance is Sanford’s theory, trying to find a balance between the two.

Vance is creating a trinity between the three of them, similar to the way Kirk, Spock, and Bones operated in TOS. Vance is in charge, and he has two equal advisors, one more focused on logic and rules, the other more focused on feeling. Vance knows that Starfleet will be served best by having officers trained by both, working together, both challenged and supported from both perspectives.

These philosophies play out in the way that the various cadets are seen to handle themselves in this episode. The Academy cadets are shown to be creative problem solvers, encouraged to think in unique ways that the War College cadets aren’t used to. When Caleb uses programmable matter to get the U.S.S. Miyazaki’s life support system back online, the War College cadets ask if that’s allowed. It does not occur to them that the rules that they were given might have allowed for some flexibility. It is Genesis who figures out how to track the cloaked ship, and SAM who comes up with the idea of having the Miyazaki’s computer read the comic book to help it understand the cadets are it’s new crew. Both are examples of thinking outside of the box, the exact kind of thinking that is needed at the time.

As the Furies attack, the War College cadets demonstrate that their way of thinking and operating is equally valuable. When Commander Tomov sacrifices himself to save the cadets, Caleb is shocked, but B’avi understands the reason, quoting Spock’s famous line about “the needs of the many.” Kyle, similarly, throws himself into combat to protect his comrades, joking after that a few scars will be good on a soldier.

But the War College cadet that really impressed me this week was Tarima. There is a moment where she is trying to convince Kelrec and Nahla that she is willing to take the risk to herself to act as a communication conduit with Caleb, who is trapped on the Miyazaki. Tarima says to Kelrec that “One of the things that the War College has taught me, that you taught me, is to see the task clearly. I can see what I have to do. And I can see I’m the only one on this ship who can do it.” Tarima specifically says that she learned this lesson from Kelrec, that his instruction has shaped her thinking. She has learned from him a clarity of purpose, an understanding that she has unique gifts and abilities that will make her the only person for the job.

Here, we see that Tarima has grown through Kelrec’s style of challenging his cadets. In this scene, he offers her a way out, he offers her the chance to back down, he offers her the safety of support, but she does not take it. She she learned that she is the only one who can accept this particular challenge. She shows that she has grown and developed and she accepts the risk. The supports are there, she takes this risk with The Doctor monitoring every step of the way, but she still steps up.

When I first watched this episode, I thought to myself “wow, Kelrec is actually competent!” But on further reflection, I understand that Kelrec is actually a good educator, he understands that it is important to challenge his students, to support them as they go through the challenges, to get them to understand what they have to do to be successful.

I look forward to seeing the dichotomy between Kelrec’s and Nahla’s approaches continue to be explored as the show goes on.

 

"I Need to Find What's Me" - What The Sisko Can Teach Today's College Students

 

I am so glad that Jake Sisko turned out OK. 

    The last shot of him on Deep Space Nine, staring out at the wormhole while the sad version of the show’s theme plays has always haunted me. Especially since "The Visitor" gave us a view of Jake’s possible life after losing his dad, and he was not OK. Deep Space Nine’s final moments leave everyone with something to look forward to; Worf and O’Brien are getting new jobs, Odo is saving the Great Link, Ezri and Julian are starting a new relationship, Nog is promoted, Quark’s bar is profitable, Kira is in command… and Jake is mourning. I am so glad to see that Jake did not go down the path that he could have, the path that Tony Todd so hauntingly showed us, giving up his writing so that he could try to get his dad back. I am glad Jake is OK.

Jake was the first child character in Star Trek who was shown to want to forge a path other than what was expected for him. It was always a foregone conclusion that Wesley Crusher would enter Starfleet Academy, and early on, it’s sort of assumed that Jake will go to Starfleet Academy. Because that’s what kids in Star Trek do, they join Starfleet and go to the Academy. Jake spends time worrying how he’s going to tell his dad, and with O’Brien’s encouragement, he tells him that “Starfleet is too much like you, I need to find what’s me.” Being a great dad, of course, Ben completely understands. Jake doesn’t know at that time what is like him, but he discovers writing and pursues it with passion and courage, and with a very supportive father.

    And this is why I think that Jake is the mentor that SAM needs. While she spends most of the episode trying to understand what Ben was like as an Emissary, what she really discovers is that she is looking to understand what she is like. She was sent by her people, created by her people, to attend Starfleet Academy for their purposes. She did not choose to attend the way that Jay-den or Genesis or Caleb did. Granted, Caleb was manipulated, but he still made a choice to stay. SAM was sent to the Academy with her purpose for being there clearly defined by someone else: her creators. Her parents.

Over the years, a lot of students I have worked with have come to college with certain expectations placed on them by well intentioned parents. I have had students tell me that they have to be a certain major because that is what their parents expect, or that they have to take certain courses, or that they have to pursue a certain career. There have been times when I ask a student “what do you want to do,” and it’s something of a revelation that what they think matters, that what they want from their life matters.

It’s also an adjustment for students and their parents, who have been used to parents being in charge during the K-12 years, suddenly shifting to the student being in charge. There can also be some inertia, as parent and student continue in the same patterns they followed in K-12, even as those patterns have to change because the student is no longer a child. The parents are well intentioned, as I said. They want the best for their kids. They want their kids to have great careers and go on to do amazing things, but it can create a lot of internal conflict for the student who is trying to figure out if they should honor their parents expectations or forge their own path.

When I work with a student dealing with these feelings, I will often tell them that they are the one who has to live their life, and they should make choices that feel the most right for them, their values. Sometimes that means doing what their parents suggest, sometimes it means doing something else that they feel called to. I also emphasize that it is the student who must make their choice, and anything anyone else says are just recommendations that they are free to accept or disregard. Parents, teachers, advisors; we all can recommend, but the student must decide what to do with their life. Ultimately, most parents just want their kids to succeed and be happy, and hopefully they will understand eventually.

SAM needs someone to listen to her, to tell her that it’s OK to be who she is, instead of who her creators want her to be. While The Doctor can fill that role to an extent, Jake Sisko is able to give her something The Doctor can’t. The Doctor learned new things about himself, like his love for music, but he never stopped being what Louis Zimmerman made him to be: a Doctor. The Doctor never decided to not follow the wishes of his parent, even as he grew and became more of a fully formed person. The Doctor never had a choice, as SAM doesn’t feel she has a choice.

By contrast, Benjamin Sisko encouraged Jake to figure himself out, without judgment or expectation. Ben’s advice was for Jake to “find something you love, then do it the best you can.” Ben did not push Jake to be a Starfleet officer once he understood Jake didn’t want to be one, and he didn’t push him into a specific career path either. He discovered his son was a poet and a writer, and encouraged him to be the best writer he could be. Learning about Jake, and the special father/son relationship that Ben had with him, gives SAM permission to forge her own path.

I am glad that Jake grew up into the kind of person he did, that he did not take The Visitor path. Jake turned out the way he did because of Ben’s love and support, because he was encouraged to discover who he is, rather than be forced to live up to expectations of him. That’s the best gift a parent can give a child, and it’s beautiful that Jake learned that lesson, made it a part of himself, and passed it on to SAM.